The Weakest Link (American game show)
The Weakest Link is an American game show that made its debut in 2001. It was an adaptation of a British series of the same name.
| The Weakest Link | |
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| Created by |
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| Directed by |
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| Presented by |
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| Narrated by |
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| Theme music composer | Paul Farrer |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons |
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| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
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| Producer(s) | Javier Winnik |
| Production location(s) | Studio 1, NBC Studios, Burbank, California |
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| Production company(s) | Original Laurelwood Entertainment (NBC Season 1) The Gurin Company Weakest Link Productions Ltd. BBC Worldwide NBC Studios NBC Enterprises Revival BBC Studios Los Angeles Universal Television Alternative Studio |
| Distributor | Original NBC Enterprises BBC Worldwide Revival NBCUniversal Television Distribution BBC Studios |
| Release | |
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| Picture format | |
| Original release | April 16, 2001 – May 20, 2003 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | The Weakest Link |
The series made its debut on NBC on April 16, 2001, and with the exception of the first 3 episodes which all aired the same week, the series aired once a week for sixty minutes as part of the network's prime time schedule. The network cancelled Weakest Link in 2002 and its final episode aired on July 14, 2002, with ten episodes left unaired. These were eventually shown on PAX and GSN years later.
While the primetime series was still being produced, NBC began developing a daily half-hour edition that would be syndicated to local stations. This version launched on January 7, 2002, and aired for a season and a half with the last new episode airing on May 20, 2003.
Hosts and announcers
As was the case with the British version, Anne Robinson served as host for the NBC Weakest Link. George Gray, whose most notable hosting experience to that point was on Extreme Gong, hosted the syndicated version. Jane Lynch will host the revival as well as serve as its executive producer.
The show's voice-over announcers were John Cramer (NBC) and Lisa Friedman (syndicated).
Rules
For the entire American run, the game was conducted in the same way as the British version, with a team of contestants trying to reach and bank a set target within a time limit by completing a chain of correct answers that would be broken with an incorrect answer or if a contestant decided to bank the money that was already in the chain. On NBC, the team was composed of eight people (six on a special half hour episode featuring contestants from the first season of Survivor aired on May 10, 2001, and five on a special celebrity edition aired during halftime of an NBA on NBC telecast) looking to win up to $1,000,000. In the syndicated series, the team size was reduced to six contestants and the potential top prize was significantly reduced. The first season offered a potential top prize of $75,000, and the second season saw that figure increased to $100,000.
The game started with the winner of a backstage draw before the show began (unlike other versions where they start with the player whose name comes first alphabetically). The first round was played for 2 minutes 30 seconds on the NBC series and 1 minute 45 seconds on the syndicated series, and any money that the team managed to bank over the course of the round was saved. Reaching the target and banking it immediately ended the round.
Regardless of the outcome, at the conclusion of the round the team was prompted to vote to eliminate one of their teammates that they felt underperformed in the previous round (the so-called "weakest link" in the chain). Once voting concluded, each contestant revealed their votes one at a time and the one with the most votes was eliminated from further play and dismissed from the stage with the host telling him/her "you are the weakest link, goodbye." In the event of a tied vote, the contestant who was that round's "strongest link" was revealed and called upon to break the tie, with his/her choice then being eliminated.
For each subsequent round that followed, the team was given less time to complete the chain. The NBC series reduced the time limit by ten seconds per round, while the syndicated series reduced the time limit by fifteen seconds per round. Play would begin with the strongest link from the previous round unless that contestant had been voted out, which would result in the next best contestant starting.
After six rounds of play on the NBC series and four on the syndicated series, the final two contestants on the team remained. For the entire run of the NBC series, a seventh round was played for 90 seconds (1:30) with the two remaining team members. Any money that they managed to bank was doubled and added to the previously banked money to determine the final prize total.
The abbreviated first season of the syndicated series also used the double stakes round, which was conducted for 45 seconds with the last two contestants. The change in the potential top prize for the second season resulted in this round being cut from the show. Instead, the game ended after the fourth round and the two surviving contestants after the last vote advanced to the final round to play for the accumulated money in their bank.
Money chains
The bank's target value was the maximum amount of money that a team could accumulate in any one round, and if a team reached the target and banked it while already having money in the bank, the bank would be augmented to the target value instead of having the target value added to the bank.
| Question Number | NBC | Syndication | |||
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| Standard episodes | Survivor special[1] | NBA Halftime specials[2] | Season 1 | Season 2 | |
| 8 | $125,000 | ||||
| 7 | $75,000 | ||||
| 6 | $50,000 | $125,000 | $12,500 | $25,000 | |
| 5 | $25,000 | $50,000 | $100,000 | $5,000 | |
| 4 | $10,000 | $20,000 | $2,500 | ||
| 3 | $5,000 | $10,000 | $1,000 | ||
| 2 | $2,500 | $5,000 | $500 | ||
| 1 | $1,000 | $250 | |||
Final round
The final round was a head-to-head showdown between the two surviving team members. The NBC series used a best-of-five format, with the syndicated series using a best-of-three format (which was previously used on two celebrity episodes). Before the round, the strongest link from the previous round was given the choice of whether to play first or second. In the second syndicated season, the choice went to the second strongest link if the two had eliminated the strongest link in the final vote.
The host would then ask one question at a time to each contestant, alternating back and forth. They would then answer the question, after which the host would either say "that is the correct answer" or inform them that they were incorrect and give them the right answer. Play continued in this manner until either all five (or three) questions per side were asked or until it became impossible for one of the two finalists to win.
The winner of the final round was named the day's strongest link and won all of the money in the bank with the opponent winning nothing.
In the event of a tie, a series of sudden death questions were asked until one of the finalists could not duplicate the other's performance.
Ratings
The NBC version of The Weakest Link started off well in the ratings, but quickly began to slip. The producers then decided that having celebrities play the game would boost ratings and so they planned many episodes with celebrities as contestants, along with "theme" episodes in which the contestants were playing for charity. However, these changes caused even lower ratings and accelerated the show's cancellation.
The syndicated Weakest Link performed well in its abbreviated first season and earned a renewal for a full second season in 2002, but like its parent series the show saw a precipitous drop in ratings that led to its cancellation at the end of the season. Many stations opted to replace Weakest Link with other programming, such as a daily syndicated edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, resulting in relocations to undesirable timeslots or the show being dropped outright in other cases.
International release
In May 2001, the BBC began to show episodes of the American NBC primetime version.[3] These were billed as 'Weakest Link USA' in programming guides, although the title sequence was not altered to reflect this fact. Break bumpers and references to commercial breaks were removed and alternative credits were used (these credits were used when GSN began reairing the series). Notably, despite the show being produced by the BBC, the famous 'BBC Blocks' were not included (as was a requirement at that time for all BBC produced or funded programming) in the title sequence. The BBC did not air the 30-minute syndicated version.
Specials
Various special episodes aired on both the NBC and syndicated versions. Occasionally the contestants on these episodes all had something in common, such as an episode featuring celebrities, members of the same family, contestants with the same occupation or Halloween and Christmas episodes in which all the contestants wore holiday-themed costumes. Other episodes invited back previously-losing contestants, either those who had lost in the final round or those who were eliminated in the first round of voting on their original episode.
Celebrity episodes were seen frequently on the NBC version. On these episodes, all participants played for charity (as is traditionally the case with all-celebrity shows), and losing celebrities still received $10,000–$25,000 for their respective charities; for this reason, the portion of John Cramer's opening spiel that went "the rest will leave with nothing" had the last two of those words omitted, while Anne's farewell to the final round loser was changed from "you leave with nothing" to "you will just go away".
Revival
On July 8, 2020, it was announced that actress Jane Lynch will host a revival of the show featuring a few modern twists.[4][5] The revival will air on NBC in 2021.[6]
References
- Weakest Link. Season 1. Episode 7. May 10, 2001. NBC.
- Weakest Link. Season 1. Episode 13–14. June 8–10, 2001. NBC.
- http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbctwo/england/2001-05-29#at-17.15
- Tyler Aquilina (July 8, 2020). "Jane Lynch to host Weakest Link reboot on NBC". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved July 8, 2020.
- "Global Game Show Phenomenon Weakest Link Returns to NBC with Jane Lynch as Host and Executive Producer" (Press release). NBC. July 8, 2020. Retrieved July 8, 2020 – via The Futon Critic.
- "'Weakest Link' set to return to NBC". KUSA.com. Retrieved 2020-08-14.